Story and aluminum question

So, riding home tonight I ate it pretty hard. Going down a dark street at about 15-20mph, without adequate lighting, my front wheel went into a pothole and didn't come out. Good times. I'm alright, the bike's good. It might need some new bar tape.

How many serious crashes would you have before replacing your aluminum handlebars? This marks two on the left side of my bullhorns. Thanks.

Aluminum has a much lower elastic modulous than steel or other materials; it has more of a tendency to break than bend once pushed past it's elastic limit. It's fatigue life is also much lower.
Bottom line is that if you see any visual deformation, the bar is compromised and should be replaced. If you crashed really hard and directly on the bars, you might want to replace them. Having them flop onto concrete every now and then is probably ok.

Aluminum has a much lower elastic modulous than steel or other materials; it has more of a tendency to break than bend once pushed past it's elastic limit. It's fatigue life is also much lower.
Bottom line is that if you see any visual deformation, the bar is compromised and should be replaced. If you crashed really hard and directly on the bars, you might want to replace them. Having them flop onto concrete every now and then is probably ok.

hey! I've lost count of how many times I've crashed on my steel drops but I think they bent after the fourth or fifth crash. I can't really tell except for one side hits my downtube and the other side doesn't.